Bermuda’s survival is threatened by the proposed million-dollar levy on Chinese-built vessels entering US ports.

US Trade Representative fees targeting Chinese-built ships could cost the container shipping industry more than $100 billion annually, the organisation has been told.

John Wight, a Bermuda shipping line representative, has just testified before the same body that the proposed measure also represented an “existential threat” to Bermuda.

Seatrade Maritime News reported: “A $1.5 million charge on Chinese vessels calling at US ports would end the lifeline that supports the 60,000 people of Bermuda, according to the shipping line that supplies the island.

“John Wight, the chairman of Bermuda Container Line, which operates three container ships operating between US ports and Bermuda, gave evidence to the US Trade Representative’s investigation into Chinese dominance of maritime trade and its significance to US trade.

“He called for exemptions for small-island states such as Bermuda, whose population of 60,000 people, including 8,000 US citizens, depend on the container trade with the US as do the New Jersey businesses that export to Bermuda.”

The publication reported that Mr Wight told the hearing that the cost of the charge would be roughly double the company’s current revenue and would certainly mean an end to the trade.

The USTR’s proposal, part of a Section 301 investigation into China’s maritime dominance, determined that China’s practices were “unreasonable” and harmful to US commerce, justifying intervention.

Mr Wight testified that the $1.5 million charge per port call for Chinese-built vessels to Bermuda would be “catastrophic to our company, and to our island”.

“Weekly US port calls would cost BCL $76 million per year. To put this in a context, BCL's total annual revenues are only about $30 million per year … In any given year we earn about $1 million,” Mr Wight added.

The plan includes port entrance fees of up to $1.5 million per call for Chinese-built vessels and $1 million for operators with such ships in their fleets or on order.

The ship Bermuda relies on for most of its US-sourced goods, the MV Oleander, is Chinese-built.

The new proposed fee structure aimed at Chinese vessels entering US ports has raised fears of widespread disruptions to global trade, and the fear that it could wipe out Bermuda’s ability to sustainably import goods.

The US is Bermuda's primary trading partner for food, medical supplies and consumer products imported primarily through Port Elizabeth at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

“We are highly dependent on maritime trade to sustain our population and our businesses,” Mr Wight said. “Our economic lifeline is importing goods from the US.”